Chronic wounds may succumb to vitamins

In mice, antioxidants fight diabetic sores

NEW ORLEANS — Vitamins may help chronic wounds heal, studies of mice suggest.

People who are bedridden, have circulation problems or have diabetes often develop sores that won't heal. If infection sets in, people may die or need to have limbs amputated. Most current therapies, including antibiotics, don't work well, says Manuela Martins-Green, a cell biologist at the University of California, Riverside.

Lab animals generally don't get persistent wounds the way humans do. But Martins-Green, Sandeep Dhall and their colleagues discovered that wounds made on the backs of diabetic mice stay open for 90 days or longer if the researchers inhibit the action of natural antioxidants at the time of wounding.

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